Marquez beats Redding to top soaking wet FP2

Full MotoGP FP2 results from Austria

Marc Marquez has led the times in the wet second free practice session in Spielberg which was delayed by a torrential downpour before heavy rain returned in the final 10 minutes.

The forecasted rain arrived in the final minutes of the FP2 Moto3 session, held directly before MotoGP’s second practice, and as the rain intensified the start was delayed by 15 minutes to allow standing water to clear.

After five minutes of the track going green in the session, Alex Rins was the brave rider to venture out first on the Suzuki before being followed by Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Johann Zarco.

Aprilia’s Scott Redding set the early top times chipping away at his fastest lap before the majority of MotoGP riders ventured on to the wet track with half of the session remaining, including Repsol Honda’s Marquez.

Despite seeing Redding lower the time to beat to a 1m 34s, it was Marquez who topped the times by setting a 1m 33.995s to lead at the finish by half a second ahead of the British rider who held on to second place on the FP2 times – which expectedly failed to challenge any of the combined fastest times with FP1 held in dry conditions.

As a result the biggest omission from the top ten, who automatically progress to Q2, is Valentino Rossi in 11^th place and will be hoping for a dry FP3 to improve his position on the Movistar Yamaha ahead of qualifying.

Looking at the FP2 times in the wet, Danilo Petrucci claimed third place on the Pramac Ducati ahead of factory duo Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso – with the latter leading the times this morning.

Sole Red Bull KTM rider Bradley Smith claimed sixth place to give his team something to enjoy with team-mate Pol Espargaro out with spine injuries along with test rider Mika Kallio also absent with a knee injury sustained at the Sachsenring.

Rins secured seventh place for Suzuki in FP2 ahead of Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Rossi completing the top ten.